Benni McCarthy has been discussing the issues of Manchester United, are the Europa League final defeat.
After all the hype, Manchester United lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham, which is a result that is hard to stomach.
Winning the competition was not just a trophy, but a chance to expedite the rebuild and turn a corner after what has been a fairly horrendous campaign.
However, both Ruben Amorim and several United players were disappointing, leading to the loss in Spain. It was just a Luke Shaw own goal that cost United here, as Tottenham themselves were far from impressive.
Amorim made a handful of mistakes in the game, however, the players also deserve serious criticism for performances and effort levels that are simply not good enough.
Now, former United coach Benni McCarthy has been discussing the main issues at the club.
Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images
Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images
Benni McCarthy identifies Manchester United’s big problem
McCarthy left United last year, but in his two years will have gained an insight into the issues at the club, which he outlined on SuperSport after the final, as quoted by Duncan Castles.
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“What I’ve experienced, I think a lot of players lacked that tough mentality. You’re depending on coaches around you to motivate you, to put you to want to go out there to win matches.
“It wasn’t within them. You have to have loads of dialogue and meetings with players about how confident they have to be.
“I found that it was just a lack of strong mentality that was there. Once you sign for Man United now you’ve made it. So there wasn’t that ‘now the real hard work starts’ and you’ve got to maintain that week in week out.
“And I just felt that ‘when you get to Man United, then you can relax’. That was the biggest problem that I found.”
If this is the main issue at the club, it is not something Amorim can be blamed for, as only one or two of the players are his players, but he will need to fix it this summer.
Ruben Amorim must solve this problem in the summer
For Amorim, the summer will either make or break his management reign at United, as a bad few months of recruitment and no sales will almost certainly lead to struggles next season.
It has previously been reported that Ineos are planning a mass summer exodus of United players, but this will be more difficult without the funds Champions League football would have brought.
Amorim needs to see the players who have bad attitudes or work rate leave, and replace them with players who are not only happy to be at United, but hungry for success at the club, as opposed to being content to just be at the club.
It sounds like a pretty easy fix, but a culture change at a club takes time, with Amorim already mentioning his attempts in recent weeks, admitting he is seeing positive signs.
Amorim sounds confident that he is the man for the job, and he will get the next few months to prove that, despite the pressure being on.